Financial Services/Insurance Expertise

TSI has assisted a number of clients in the Insurance and Financial Services Industries. These projects have ranged from:

1. Strategic Planning
2. Performance/Process Improvement and Reengineering
3. Change Management
4. Salesforce and Sales Channel Effectiveness

Listed below are a few examples of our expertise:

• Large National Insurance Company - Long Grove, IL
  • Commercial Lines Processing Improvement Study: Dan Feely was responsible for the day-to-day project management and hands-on participation of a 12-person project to reengineer the underwriting, marketing and support operations of the entire Commercial Lines organization and its 20 branch offices. The goals of the project focused on improving the level of customer service and profitability. The project recommended and implemented automation, organizational and operational improvements that will yield annual benefits exceeding $10 million. Accomplishments and duties included performing detailed workflow and organization analysis to develop organization-wide recommendations for the 1,200-person organization. In addition, the project scope included a variety of cost-benefit analyses that included alternatives of the branch's organization, facilities, personnel and information systems.
  • Statistical-Actuarial Department Productivity Improvement Study: Managed a project to recommend information system improvements to reduce the work effort required to extract and analyze premium and loss information. Recommendations included the vendor evaluation, design, development and implementation of a local-area network to replace an antiquated mainframe information system. Information Systems CASE Tool Evaluation and Selection Project: Led a project to evaluate and select a PC-based upper CASE tool to be used as the company's standard for system design activities. Information Systems Department Methodology Project: Engaged to develop new and enhance existing operational review business reengineering and systems development and implementation methodologies for the Information Systems Department. TSI also trained the Information System's staff on the methodologies.
  • Claim Department of the Future: Participated on a highly visible project designed to analyze and increase claim office efficiency by improving the use of technology and use of operating procedures.
  • Information Systems (IS) Department Reengineering: TSI led several projects to improve the effectiveness of the 1200 person IS Department. On the first project, TSI led an IS Team to define and implement improved and streamlined systems development processes, rather than the existing long, cumbersome methodologies. The project was completed within 90 days and also included the definition of refined IT roles, relationships and performance measures. Starting at CMM Level 1, this company was evaluated at CMM – Level 2+ after this project. TSI, led by TSI , also identified the specific characteristics that were needed to achieve Level 3 and created an action plan to achieve this level.
  • Implementation/Program Management - TSI led two subsequent projects to implement many of the recommended changes. One project refined the role and processes surrounding the Business Liaison, acting in between the business units and IS. The last project address the organization and set up of a Project Management Office (PMO) environment to install more structure around the development and tracking of project plans, using a common project management and time tracking tool, and reporting of project progress in a consistent fashion.
• Commercial Bank - Chicago, IL To achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace, TSI helped the bank define a process capable of performing the necessary due diligence and market analysis to approve a loan within 30 days. This project included examining the work performed, roles and responsibilities, information availability and existing policies. All of these elements were improved while define key service level agreements and management reporting to guide the processes.
• Investment Bank - London, New York and Zurich - TSI led a team to define and implement significant process improvement “breakthroughs” within the Human Resources (HR) and Benefits functions. The recommendations included a radical rethinking of the role Human Resources plays to support and enable its business customers. The recommendations included the implementation of PeopleSoft version 7.5 and the definition of business processes and roles and responsibilities to yield significant gains. It is currently estimated that the improvements will yield over $20 million in tangible benefits annually.
• Large Leasing Company – Chicago, IL - TSI worked with this client to define process and organization integration between the parent and acquired organization. Followed a results oriented, process-centric approach to determine how the process should function to best meet the needs of their customer base. Based on the improved process, the technology in place to support the process and the personnel at various locations, determined where these credit approval and leasing operations should reside.